1. Foreword by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice

Part 1 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016
[1] will reform and modernise the system for arrest and custody
procedures in Scotland. It will ensure that Scotland is at the
forefront of human rights practice in the questioning, arrest and
detention of suspects.

The Act contains procedures and protections which will apply to
all arrests. While the majority of arrests are of people suspected
of a criminal offence, there are arrests for other reasons - for
example an arrest for a breach of a protective court order or a
witness arrested under warrant to ensure they attend court. For
these arrests, not all the procedures and protections set out in
the Act are appropriate.

For this reason, it was set out during the passage of the Bill
that some limited modification to the procedures was needed. It is
my intention to set out these modifications in regulations under
section 60 of the Act.

This public consultation is to allow adequate consideration to
be given prior to the regulations being laid before Parliament. I
look forward to hearing your views.